Why You Should NEVER Put A Lemon Wedge In Your Drink

The Feed

Posted on August 26, 2016
by Olivia Mackinnon

If you’re privy to a night out on the town, odds are you’ve consumed a few drinks with refreshing lemon slices inside.But have you ever stopped to think a little more deeply about the citrus pieces in your drink?

It’s kind of creepy.

How clean are they? For one study published in the Journal of Environmental Health in 2007, researchers swabbed lemon slices that were on their drinks at 21 different restaurants.

They found that almost 70 percent of the slices produced some sort of microbial growth, including 25 different microbial species.

"The microbes found on the lemon samples in our investigation all have the potential to cause infectious diseases at various body sites, although the likelihood was not determined in this study," wrote the researchers.

"Restaurant patrons should be aware that lemon slices added to beverages may include potentially pathogenic microbes."

The thing to remember is that people are touching the lemon in your glass with their hands when they cut it and squeeze it.

It’s running through their hands into your drink - and who knows how vigilant they are with their hand washing. The slightly good news is that most drinks may have enough alcohol inside to kill the bacteria, but even still, no amount of alcohol will kill viruses, only bacteria.

If you're especially concerned about germs though, simply ask for the citrus slices on a small plate, squeeze the juice into your drink yourself, and then skip dropping the whole wedge into your drink.